It's the tentative look on the pitcher's face as she repeatedly shifts her weight, peering defeatedly at her catcher searching for an escape.

It's the glance the opposing coaches shoot to each other, trying not to let their players sense their concern. And it's the undivided attention she garners from the crowd as she digs into the batter's box.

No high school softball player in recent memory has carried as much of a presence to the plate as has Hillsborough senior catcher Alyssa VanDerveer the past three seasons. But if she's proven anything it's that despite 28 career varsity homers, including 13 this year, she's a lot more than simply a power hitter.

"Every year, she just got better and better," Hillsborough coach Cheryl Iaione said. "The improvement she showed, not only as a hitter, but as a catcher, and her leadership abilities, she became like a coach on the field. We could talk about what was happening and different hitters. And her experience on the travel level, she knew a lot of the hitters. I'm one of the few people that allows the catcher to call the game, and she called a great game. I had complete confidence in her and she didn't prove me wrong. She did a great job working with Katie (Gademsky) as a first-year pitcher, took her under her wing and made it work."

Under VanDerveer's guidance, Gademsky (a sophomore) excelled in her first season as a varsity pitcher, going 24-2 as Hillsborough finished 26-2, won its fourth straight Skyland Conference Delaware Division title, the Somerset County Tournament crown, its second straight Central Group IV championship, and made its first trip to the state finals.

After hitting .457 with five doubles, 10 homers and 32 RBI as a sophomore rookie, and .471 with eight doubles, a triple, five homers and 32 RBI last season, VanDerveer took it to a new level this year, hitting .591 with seven doubles, 13 homers and 50 RBI.

But if you ask VanDerveer, she'll tell you it was her teammates that made her better. In a lineup stacked with quality hitters, including senior Donna Conrad, the Raiders No. 5 hitter, who has played with VanDerveer since they were 10-year-olds, it was easy for her to stay within herself, knowing she didn't have to do it alone. That was never more evident than during the Group IV semifinals against Washington Township when the Minutemaids twice walked VanDerveer intentionally, only to have Conrad follow with run-scoring doubles.

"I go up there really not thinking too much now," said VanDerveer, who ripped 32 singles. "In the past, I might have gone up there thinking 'OK. I really need to hit a home run in this situation. I need to pick up the team.' It was easy going up there knowing people were behind me. I would just go up there and clear my thoughts and go, 'Yeah, I can do this. But If I don't get it done, it's not the end of the world.' "

"I think it was a maturity level and I think it was a confidence level in her teammates," Iaione said. "Seeing how things were going, she knew she didn't have to do it all, and that relaxed her, and I think it gave her better numbers. I just really thought she stayed within herself as a hitter and let the power number come."

But, of course, there are still the home runs, and part of what made VanDerveer so much fun to watch was knowing she didn't just hit homers, she hit bombs, and she did so in plenty of big spots.

Some of her more memorable blasts came during the Somerset County Tournament, including a skyscraper off Immaculata's Josie Novak that proved to be the game-winner in a 3-2 semifinals victory, as well as a game-tying, line-drive, opposite-field bullet she hit over the right-center field fence in the county final, one that she barely elevated far enough off the ground to get out of the yard, but one that left the park faster, it seemed, than the outfielders could turn around to watch it go.

But the one that probably sent more jaws to the ground than any other was hit at Watchung Hills in Hillsborough's conference-title clinching victory on May 15. It was a shot that not only cleared the standard temporary fence in left field, but also traveled beyond the permanent metal fence more than a good 300 feet from home plate. It was a feat no one associated with the Watchung Hills program can ever remember being done, not even in batting practice.

"Sometimes, you find yourself admiring the hit," Iaione said. "You're not trying to show anyone up, but that one she hit at Watchung, tell me we all didn't look at that. That was ridiculous. Physically, she's just so strong."

With the finishing touches already put on her varsity career, VanDerveer is headed to Penn State University to compete at the highest collegiate level. While her future is wide open and holds unlimited promise in Happy Valley, her heart will always be in Central Jersey.

"I'm ready to go, but at the same time I'm not," VanDerveer said. "I'm going to miss this (program). I love playing for Hillsborough and wearing the Hillsborough jersey, so it will definitely be missed."